E-DRUG: News about USP international activities

E-DRUG: News about USP international activities
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Dear E-druggers,

I have been requested by one of the E-drug moderators to update
the readership on the international activities of the U.S.
Pharmacopeia (USP).

In Russia:
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As part of our cooperative agreement with the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID), USP sponsored
an NIS(Newly Independent States)-wide drug information workshop
in Moscow, June 9-11, 1997, through the Rational Pharmaceutical
Management (RPM) Project. Over 150 health care professionals
and administrators from the former Soviet nations met to discuss
a broad range of topics including fundamental aspects of
scientific drug information, drug information needs of health
care professionals and patients, information needs in formulary
development and drug utilization reviews, problems within medical
education and rational drug use, computer-assisted clinical
decisions and drug therapy, international terminology and
classification systems and the drug information center model.

USP Drug Information database (USP DI)is in the process of being
translated in to Russian. Based on USP DI, two books in specific
therapeutic areas have been already published in Russian.
     
In Mozambique:
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In May, 1997, the Portuguese translation of the USP DI was
installed in the first drug information center in Mozambique. The
DIC is located within the Library and Documentation Center of the
National Institute of Health. The database, which was translated
into Portuguese at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, will
now be adapted for Mozambique by staff of the Ministry of Health
with technical support by USP/RPM.
     
Next month (September 15-16), USP/RPM will sponsor the First
National Drug Information Workshop in Maputo, Mozambique. Drug
and medical information specialists from the U.S. and Brazil
will participate with local experts. The workshop, which will
be primarily conducted in Portuguese, will begin with an
examination of the current state of drug use in Mozambique then
discuss drug information needs for health care professionals,
regulators and patients, how to develop drug and therapeutic
monographs, the need for drug information at central, provincial
and district levels, establishing training programs for health
care professionals, and developing community and patient drug
information programs.
     
Following the workshop, staff members of the Ministry of Health
of Mozambique will travel to Johannesburg, South Africa, for a
four-day drug information study tour, also sponsored by USP/RPM.
     
In Nepal:
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In early November, 1997, USP/RPM will sponsor a drug information
workshop in Biratnagar, Nepal in cooperation with DINoN, the Drug
Information Network of Nepal. This is the second such workshop to
be held in Nepal since RPM began. The focus will be on getting
information resources out to the district level and using drug
information to 1) strengthen drug management activities in the
districts and 2) educate consumers. The potential links between
drug information centers and poison control centers may also be
explored.
     
Nepal is continuing work on its own adaptation of the USP DI
PLUS (CD-ROM version of USP DI).
     
Nancy Blum
Coordinator of International Programs
United States Pharmacopeial Convention, Inc.
12601 Twinbrook Parkway
Rockville, MD 20852, USA
Email: nlb@usp.org

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